Assessment | Lab Aids

Embedded Assessment

The SEPUP Assessment System is based on the idea that students benefit from regular opportunities to demonstrate learning through performance in the context of their work at hand:

a group redesigning a structure to prevent erosion may also be evaluated on their understanding of engineering design
feedback can be provided to strengthen a student's argument as she considers additional evidence about fossilized footprints and explains the patterns

Each unit includes a variety of assessments embedded within the instruction context to provide consistent, actionable information to the teacher, and students, with minimal impact on instructional time.

Assessing the PEs

Moving from bottom to top, these Learning Pathways visualize the three dimensional path students take as they work towards a Performance Expectation (PE). Often, several Learning Pathways are intertwined within one unit as students work towards multiple PEs.

Summative assessments are built into the Learning Pathway when students reach the PE, as well as formative assessments and quick checks along the way so students and teachers may evaluate their progress at multiple places throughout.

View all Learning Pathways

Core components of the SEPUP assessment system

2019 Assessment Chart

At the core of the SEPUP assessment system are nine variables, identified in the diagram above. Assessment items and tasks are used to gather evidence of students' learning within each variable, while Scoring Guides and Exemplars are provided for interpreting their responses.

These nine variables are used throughout Issues and Science so that students may demonstrate a deeper understanding and level of sophistication, not only as one unit progresses, but as they move from unit to unit across grade levels. These assessment tasks, partnered with quick checks, 3D formative assessment opportunities, and unit tools such as unit overviews, assessment blueprints, learning pathways, and item banks, form the SEPUP assessment system.

Sample Student Exemplar

Shown here is the start of a student response exemplar where students have been asked to design a new school property, while mitigating the human impact on the environment.

This particular assessment comes at the end of a unit where students have been immersed in this topic and uses the Communicating Concepts and Ideas variable and scoring guide.

Beyond Assesment

Differentiation

An intentionally flexible approach to all program activity types helps accomplish our goal that all students achieve scientific literacy.

Literacy

Our proven science programs provide frequent opportunities for students to develop their language skills. Though they vary across the middle school and high school programs, each provides embedded strategies to help teachers explore students' thinking.

Middle School Programs

Preview to see how literacy, differentiation, and assessment supports are built into the SEPUP middle school programs.

SEPUP Assessment System